


A Marriage of Convenience

by darth_stitch



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Mutual Pining, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Oblivious, Romance, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Secret Marriage, Thor Is Not Stupid, Thor Is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 21:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darth_stitch/pseuds/darth_stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There they were, Mr. and Mr. Barnes-Rogers and this was totally just a convenient thing.  The fact that Bucky had been dreaming about marrying Steve even before it was LEGAL had nothing to do with it.  At all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Marriage of Convenience

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at [The Blanket Fort](http://darthstitch.tumblr.com/post/137249903671/we-should-just-get-married-should-have-been-one)

“We should just get married,” should have been one of the least romantic proposals ever. 

That’s what Bucky tells himself after all the paperwork and insanity that comes with trying to be each other’s medical proxy, legal proxy, whatever-else-proxy - considering that they’re not actually related to each other in the eyes of the law, even if he and Steve have considered each other to be family since they first slapped palms wet with spit and shook on it.   

(Seven year old Bucky thought this would have to do since cutting each other and doing a Blood Pact like the pirates did wasn’t a good idea. He wasn’t going to risk it, not when Steve got sick so easily and Steve’s Mam telling them all about germs and infected wounds.)

So he tells Steve about the marriage thing, because if there was one good thing about this century, it was that that fellas could get married now and most decent people would mind their own business about it and it was perfectly okay to tell anyone else to fuck off.   Being Mr. and Mr. Barnes-Rogers should take care of all that pesky paperwork and red tape just fine. 

It totally had _nothing_ to do with the fact that Bucky used to have ridiculous dreams, back in the day, of being in church in his dress uniform and seeing tiny little Steve in his best Sunday suit, cheeks all flushed with health and eyes a-sparkling. And of course, Father Ryan would be reading them the vows and “till the end of the line” would take the place of that “till death do us part” bit because Bucky was perfectly willing to sweet-talk Death about not running off with Steve anytime soon. 

It totally had _nothing_ to do with impossible hopes and secret wishes which did not include mornings of waking up with his best friend in his arms. 

(Well, they used to do that in the 1930’s and 40’s, since people did need to share beds back then. It helped that Steve had been a little guy who didn’t take up a lot of room even though he could glom onto Bucky like an octopus in his sleep and Bucky mock-complained that he wasn’t Steve’s damn teddy bear.

He thinks that this is the _real_ origin of the Bucky Bear because of course, _of course_ this happened during the War and no one thought anything of it because it was fucking cold in the winter, except for goddamn Dum Dum, who made Bucky Bear jokes which everyone else ran with.)

So Bucky makes his non-romantic, totally practical proposal and Steve, amazingly, sees the sense in it.  They get their license and they hop off to the courthouse and without further ado, for better and for worse, they were Mr. and Mr. Barnes-Rogers, nothing to see here, folks, move along - not the droids you’re looking for.

(What? Of course Star Wars was one of the first things he and Steve binge-watched together.)

It wasn’t as if things actually changed between them, to be honest.  Okay, so the two of them had nightmares and PTSD and all the shit of the past seventy odd years, because they were both soldiers and had been through hell and back.  But Steve still glommed onto Bucky like an octopus in their shared bed, Bucky still knew how Steve liked his coffee in the morning (three sugars, just a smidge of cream) and Steve still prided himself on the fact that he could cook just as amazingly as his Ma ever did, since Bucky could use a bit of “fattening up.”

Also, super soldiers had super appetites. It was a totally legitimate excuse and yes, Sam and Natasha, you two are totally invited to dinner.

Clint will only be allowed on the condition that bringing _pizza_ is not the same as bringing wine to a dinner party.

And Bucky totally pretended that his stomach still didn’t do funny twists whenever he saw Steve borrowing his clothes and he certainly didn’t imagine the reddish tips of Steve’s ears when he borrowed Steve’s stuff in turn.

(What? Bucky knew he looked really good in Steve’s midnight blue shirt.)

“It’s a marriage of convenience,” is how the two of them explain it to their gobsmacked teammates.

Natasha calls them a pair of fucking idiots in Russian and Bucky glares at her and what surprises him is that Steve calmly responds back in the same language.

“Sam, DO something!”

“Y’all realize I got better things to do than to babysit the sad grandpas, right?”

“I take exception to being called a sad grandpa,” Steve said mildly. “I’m a happily married man, I’ll have you know.”

“There is no way in hell I’d stray far away from my mister,” Bucky agrees and the two of them exchange sappy smiles that make Natasha pretend to puke.

Wanda brings them what she calls a “wedding casserole” from her native Sokovia, which is basically a wish for a long and happy married life and Bucky declares her his favorite because _goddamn_ that was a good casserole.

And Tony, of course, has Things to Say - which mainly have to do with jokes about how they pull off the “old-married-couple-thing” so well but that’s Tony for you.

But Thor, bless him, just took Bucky aside and quietly told him, “If you wish to play at this game to hide your own feelings and spare yourself further hurt, I understand.   But I can only see that this is no marriage of convenience but a true one, of hearts and minds and souls.  Open your eyes, my friend.”

Bucky was in deep shit then. 

The two of them were actually supposed to keep this whole thing on the down low from the general public, not that they were ashamed, obviously, but really, he and Steve were in agreement that they wanted to keep as much of their personal life as private as they possibly could, considering their faces were plastered in the history books. 

Except that there was this press conference and out of nowhere, some asshole brings up this whole “Stucky” thing - which apparently, the kids were “shipping” - and Steve gets that Look in his eye that promised Trouble. 

And because Steve is Steven “Trouble is Actually My Middle Name Not Grant” Barnes-Rogers, he says, “Bucky and I are married.  The ship is canon.  You’re welcome, kids.”

And he grabs Bucky and lays one right on his lips and Jesus H. Christ, Mary and Joseph and all the Saints in Heaven, since when did Steve learn how to kiss in such a way that a man could be taken out at the knees? 

(The picture, taken by one P. Parker, apparently was reminiscent of the infamous V-J Day kiss back then but actually Bucky took note of the fact that his hand had immediately clamped onto Steve’s neck and he was, in fact, giving back as good as he got.)

“I’m allowed to kiss my husband, right?“ Steve’s tone is defiant but his eyes, dear God, were definitely saying something else back.

“You’re allowed to kiss your husband like that as many times as you like,” Bucky tells him and he’s hoping, he’s hoping like hell that Steve can read the same message. 

_Please.  I love you.  I want you.  Always have and always will.   I would kiss you like that forever.  Also, I’d be really interested in continuing this conversation somewhere in private and comfortable, where I can peel that shirt off you and kiss you everywhere and make up for all those years where we were both kiss-deprived._

Thankfully, Steve gets the message loud and clear.  And if there were any further doubts, those were all settled in their later, private, long-overdue conversation.

Okay, so maybe they were a little…. loud and enthusiastic that night. 

And maybe they BOTH swaggered into the Avengers’ kitchen covered in love bites, hair tousled and with the proudest, most disgustingly smug grins on their faces. 

They were both infinitely grateful, however, to take up the offer of that island getaway so they could finally get on their honeymoon.

_\- end -_

 


End file.
